The Roman Porno + Pink thread

[HungFist]

Here's a little peek at what kind of extras you'll find on the Ichijo disc. Aside from the trailer they are just stills, but fans can certainly appriciate them. Behind the scenes footage and pictures are very rare when it comes to Nikkatsu's roman movies.

[HungFist]

Love Hotel (1985)

Looking at the title and poster art, Love Hotel may seem like just another late Meisaku Roman film by the Nikkatsu Studios. That, however, could hardly be further from the truth. The talent involved in this production alone should be a enough to make Love Hotel one of the most interesting films from Nikkatsu’s exploitation era. And, one of the best, too.

Love Hotel was directed by master filmmaker Shinji Somai. It’s not rare that talented directors begin their career in the pink genre before breaking through to mainstream cinema. Somai, however, had already established his position as one of the most acclaimed Japanese directors of the 80’s. In 1985 he surprised the audiences with his one film Nikkatsu collaboration. To make matters more puzzling, Love Hotel was released only four weeks prior to Taifu Club, Somai’s crowning achievement and a landmark in Japanese cinema.

The explanation for Somai’s sudden Nikkatsu dive is found in the production credits. While Nikkatsu indeed took care of the distribution Love Hotel was actually produced by The Director’s Company. It got tagged as Nikkatsu Meisaku Roman film afterwards, but it didn’t begin as their original production nor was it based on one of those 3 page screenplays Nikkatsu were notorious for. The storyline was crafted by the acclaimed manga artist Takashi Ishii, who later used the same storyline, although in heavily altered form, in his directorial debut; Angel Guts – Red Vertigo (1988).

Love Hotel begins with the downfall of Tetsuro Muraki (Minori Terada). His company goes bankrupt and he fails to pay back the money he owes to the yakuza. Not being able to get money out of him the loansharks rape his wife in front of him. The desparate Muraki plans to end his life in a Love Hotel after sex with a prostitute but finds himself too weak. The film continues two years later. Murakami has divorced from his wife in order to protect her from the debt, and become a taxi driver. One day he meets Nami (Noriko Hayami), a woman he believes might understand him due to being in a similar situation.

The first 10 minutes of Love Hotel is as graphic as any exploitation film. But that’s only the introduction. The remaining 79 minutes play purely for story and characters. The film never goes back to the yakuza themes again, and the amount of sex scenes is lower than what Nikkatsu’s own genre cinema guidebook would require. In fact, appart from the beginning and occasional Eirin censorship here and there the film would be hard to associate with the pink genre if it wasn’t for the Nikkatsu logo in the opening and closing credits.

Still, there is a reason why Nikkatsu acquired the film. Compared to the director’s earlier work Love Hotel is definitely a griettier and more sexually explicit film. That, however, does not equal to decreased quality. Fans of Somai will recognize his touch easily. The long takes, stylish use of music (with Momoe Yamaguchi’s Yoru he playing during the pier scene) and deep focus on characters are all here. The cast is pretty good with very decent performances from both leads. The brilliant cinematography is courtesy of Noboru Shinoda, a frequent future collaborator of Shunji Iwai.

Reportedly Somai shot the film in 10 days, but the rush doesn’t show. The film features several terrific sequences but also holds up as a whole. There’s maybe a little bit of melodrama but that was also the case with Gyoei no mure (1983). The ending is excellent and beautiful – as you’d expect from Somai. In Nikkatsu’s Meisaku Roman catalogue Love Hotel is somewhat an oddity; an exploitation release that is almost not exploitation at all. Nevertheless, or perhaps for that very reason, it was awarded as Nikkatsu’s best film of the year.

Pretty good remastered dvd by Geneon. Some scenes don’t look overly crisp, but the transfer gets the job done rather nicely. Note that the film was also released by Uplink in 1998. I believe that dvd was non-anamorphic (although I’m not 100% sure) while this new release is anamorphic and progressive. Extras consist of trailer, filmographies and 4 page booklet.

[HungFist]

Woman of the Afternoon: Incite! (Hirusagari No Onna: Chohatsu!!) (1979)

Nikkatsu titles such as ”Woman of the Afternoon: Incite!” don't get your hopes very high. But director Nobuyaki Saito surprises, more than once. The film has an unpromising opening, but almost immediately after turns into a upbeat romantic drama. Decently acted with a nice audio-visual touch from the director, Woman of the Afternoon feels more fresh than most of its genre sisters. Unlike many other cheapskate Nikkatsu directors Saito keeps the film moving, literally. The storyline follows a woman (Natsuko Yashiro) who runs away from her husband, and bumps into a gay hitchhiker who’s on his way to meet his boyfriend. After this the film takes another interesting turn that works best when left for the viewer to discover. If you want to know more, keep reading, otherwise stop here. When the main character arrives a small countryside village, the film suddenly moves to tense thriller territory. The local inhabitants turn out to be good old school rednecks with nothing but rapes and brutal assaults in their mind.









plus one cap from the second half
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... WotAI4.jpg

and a very stylish, very spoiling original trailer
http://youtube.com/watch?v=PiD9_iFkB7Q&fmt=18

[HungFist]

Image of a Bound Girl (Shoujo Shibari Ezu) (1980)

Masaru Konuma has been responsible of some truly disgusting classics, but this time he surprises positively. Image of a Bound Girl is a strong character drama with good performances and challenging storyline. It’s is also somewhat romantic, although the main theme of the film is obsession. Konuma uses long takes succesfully and sometimes even seems to be analyzing the genre with pieces of dialogue that appear to be pointed towards the audience. Some of the plot twists towards the end are not totally satisfying, and there are some off putting scenes that are typical for the genre, but the relationship between the main characters – a socially disregarded university professor and a suicidal high school girl – has enough depth to carry over some weaker moments. Casting Tatsuya Hamaguchi, one of the sleaziest Nikkatsu villains, as concervative father, works as fun little anecdote.

[HungFist]

Woman in the Box: Virgin Sacrifice (Hako no naka no onna: Shojo ikenie) (1985)

Sometimes the history behind film production is more interesting than the final product. With Nikkatsu movies they tend to be equally boring. Here however is something out of ordinary. Highly successful star director Masaru Konuma (Flower and Snake, Wife to be Sacrificed) was preparing his latest project, with the green light already given by the studio. The film would be another SM story where a woman who gets captured and tortured, a world Konuma knows better than most other directors. Everything was set to go. Then, at the last moment, Nikkatsu changed their minds. The time was ready for their new roughie line, they thought, and Woman in the Box would be the one to start it.

What this meant in practice was that Woman in the Box would be a straight to video hard core sex film. The year was 1985 and VHS players had started to gain popularity. AV was stealing its share of Nikkatsu’s usual pink film audience, and the studio wanted to strike back. ”Presenting to you the most exciting Nikkatsu Roman X rated film”, was the answer. From a historical point of view such twist could be anticipated. Large scale pink cinema was born a few decades earlier when TV had ill-treated the box office numbers, and film industry had to find a way to attract audiences back into the dark cinemas. It’s only natural the genre would meets its fate in similar fashion when the technology takes yet another leap.

Konuma was not happy, not at all. He had been helming ambitious and critically acclaimed genre films since the early years of Roman Porno. Jumping into the cheap hard core sex wagon was not what he had on mind. He pulled out his original scrip and froze the production. Finally, after negotiations with the studio, a conclusion was found. Konuma would agree to deliver Nikkatsu what they were asking for, and in return the studio would finance his original script as a sequel. Woman in a Box 2 would also be a theatrical feature, shot in widescreen, unlike the cheap full screen ”original”.

Woman in the Box Part 1 is pain. For the lead character, and the audience. Recent films like Hostel and Saw have brought up the expression ’torture porn’, but here Konuma tries to live up to the term (which I’m not sure existed back then) in a literal sense of the word. The attempt is doomed as the violence, although mean sprited, takes mostly place outside the frame, and the sex is as censored as usual. Nikkatsu was having hopes of finding a blind spot in the censors’ eye in the video market, but no such ”luck” here. The fogging is so strong you sometimes can’t see the performers head. It’s a shame, as the the lead actress (Saeko Kizuki) has a cute face that is one of the few positives that have found their way into the film.

Another, and well, only, thing worth mentioning is the ridiculously cool ending. In fact, I warmly recommend skipping the first 75 minutes and only watching the last 7. Then the seriously bad news; your math is not failing you, nor did I make a mistake with the numbers. Woman in the Box runs 82 minutes. Typically Nikkatsu’s genre movies run approximately 70 minutes, even those that are based on screenplay. Woman in the Box is based on matchbox. It took me four attempts and 2 ice hockey games to finish the movie. There is no storyline, no quality in film making, not even trashy fun. Only sex, sadism and boredom, which in this case are the very same thing.

Note: I usually try to post captures that give you a somewhat 'true and fair view' of the film's content and style (or how I experienced it) (edit: sometimes saving you from the ugliest stuff). However, this time I didn't want to start polluting this thread with the filth Konuma included in this movie. In reality the (optically censored) hard core sex is very much present, while the violent content (which dominates these three caps) is secondary. If you need more captures to decide whether to watch/buy the movie, pm me and I'll email you a dozen caps.

[HungFist]

Woman in the Box II (Hako no naka no onna II) (1988)

Sequels have bad reputation, but it was obvious from the beginning that Woman in the Box II would surpass the miserable original. The first film was a hard core filled compromise effort, made direct to video, that Masaru Konuma only directed to get finance for his original story. The sequel is the film he would’ve delivered in the first place if given a chance. It’s also not hard to guess that the preceding disaster motivated Konuma to put some extra effort into this production.

Indeed, Woman in the Box II redeems even before the storyline kicks off. While the first film showed how a maniac couple kidnapped an innocent girl, and then later moved to the torture phase, the sequel opens with the camera panning in a dark cellar prison where the victim is lying naked on the floor, already tortured and being kept in captivity for a longer time. The atmosphere is lifted directly from horror films, with skillful camerawork and excellent score making it all the more effective.

It turns out that the opening is not just a lucky shot, nor is it misleading. Woman in the Box II is not a pink film with horror, it’s a horror film with pink. And it’s mostly impressive. The story is set on a ski resort where a lonely man lures tourists into his trap and kidnaps and tortures them. Not too far off from Psycho and Norman Bates, actually, but without the mother. While the film is filled with dark images and even darker content, Konuma creates effective contrasts by mixing in beautiful mountain landscapes and outdoor scenes. The soundtrack is used effectively throughout the film.

It’s almost a shame this film, too, is a Nikkatsu production. Konuma is still bound by the (soft core) genre requirements, which mean some ’less than vital for the storyline’ sex scenes. The film would work better as pure horror, although it’s very effective in this form, too. There isn’t much graphic violence, but the atmosphere is very threatening and intense. The cast doesn’t feature memorable performances, but no one goes below the (admittedly low) bar either. A small, hidden gem.











Both films have been released on R2J by Uplink, not Geneon. The transfers are non-anamorphic and interlaced. Note that WitB I caps are taken in de-interlace mode as finding frames without heavy interlacing proved next to impossible. WitB II is a less interlace heavy so the caps are taken properly. The aspect ratio should be correct (WitB I was direct to video feature, hence the full screen presentation).

Quality is not great but it’s not terrible either. WitB II looks maybe a bit worse in caps than in reality. The film is loaded with dark scenes, and I’d imagine some of the smuttiness is intentional. I believe you can see most of what you’re supposed to see, and you’re not supposed to be able to see everything. No problems with audio. No subs as usual. Extras are limited to filmographies and distributor info / bonus trailers (but no trailers for the WitB films).

Below are poster links for both films:
Woman in the Box
Woman in the Box II

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And then to France for a second. Cinemalta's Masaru Konuma box set (Wife to Be Sacrificed and Wet Vase) is supposed to hit the stores June 10, 2008. However, I can't find the final cover art anywhere.

The Tanaka box (Abe Sada and Beauty's Exotic Dance) is set for release on July 1, 2008, according to asia-diffusion. I think I read somewhere that the Kumashiro Box (Ichijo Sayuri and The Woman with Red Hair) would be released in August.

A few months ago the German distributor R.E.M also released Ichijo Sayuri as 'Wet Desire'. You can find it from amazon. The same company released Tanaka's Abe Sada in 2005. I don't know about these releases but R.E.M dvds have a bad habit of being conversions according to my experience. This may or may not be the case with Cinemalta as well, so be careful. Everything these companies have released is also available from Geneon. Abe Sada also has ancient UK and US dvds available, but those suck.

[HungFist]

Rope and Skin (Nawa to hada) (1979)

Rope and Skin is mostly remarkable for being Naomi Tani’s farewell movie. According to the 31 year old sm starlet herself, she wanted her fans to remember her as a ”forever blooming flower”. Retiring from the movie industry before the effect of aging took its price was the way to achieve this. To honor her decision Nikkatsu decided to make her last film something special; a period pink actioner with a budget.

The picture was scripted by the acclaimed Toei professional Takeshi Matsumoto (who had been working on such classics as Showa zankyo den and the Furyo bancho series). He delivers a screenplay that combines elements from Nikkatsu’s own sm films and Toei’s more classy ninkyo yakuza pics. Novelist Dan Oniroku is also given credit for the storyline, although that seems to be the case with almost every sm film Nikkatsu ever produced. The directing duties were given to Shogoro Nishimura, one of the studio’s most experienced Meisaku Roman experts.

The film’s key scene is placed in the very beginning. Naomi Tani, dressed in white kimono, introduces herself to the audience as a gambler who’s about to participate in the last match of her career. ”Let it be one of my best”, she says. Obviously this scene is referring as much to her acting career as anything in the film. The fact that’s she’s talking directly to the camera only underlines this.

However, the true significance this scene is elsewhere. From Naomi Tani’s appearance to storyline (a female yakuza helping a young couple) and characters everything is made to resemble Toei’s legendary Red Peony Gambler movies. As the film advances it becomes very clear the filmmakers are attempting a sort of Meisaku Roman Red Peony. The comparison is utterly unfavourable, even to miss Tani. She may have been a genre queen, but she doesn’t stand a chance againts someone like Junko Fuji.

Another problem is that despite all the ambition, the film runs short on yakuza ingredients. Make no mistake, this is a Meisaku Roman sm movie and very little else. There’s only a couple of short action scenes and while it’s indeed fun to see a tattooed Tani jumping around topless with a sword in her hand, the quality of these scenes is nothing to get excited about. The storyline is simple and characters have practically zero depth. The soundtrack borrows heavily from Nikkatsu’s own, pre-roman film Blind Woman's Curse (1970).

The amount of torture and degradation scenes is lower than in most films in the (sub) genre, but they’re there alright. Director Nishimura mercifully saves us from the most disturbing details but all the nastiness is still present, even if sometimes off screen. If you had a problem with some other Nikkatsu sm films, you may have to add Rope and Skin to the avoid list as well. On other hand, you can’t really blame the filmmakers for the content. This is a Naomi Tani’s movie after all.

The cast features some interesting names such as Junko Miyashita, who was perhaps Nikkatsu’s most popular star of the time along with Tani. Her role in this movies is more like a cameo, though. The main female support Yuri Yamashina has a cute face but her role isn’t too special. Shohei Yamamoto plays the stripped down Ken Takakura role, without memorable results. The best supporting actor is Tatsuya Hamaguchi, whose villain performance is loaded with enjoyable sleaziness.

[HungFist]

Yakuza Goddess: Lust and Honor (Yakuza kannon: Iro jingi) (1973)

Young monk gets into trouble and later turns into a lonely yakuza. Tatsumi Kumashiro’s pink coloured crime drama has an unusually long running time, 84 minutes. It exceeds the typical Meisaku Roman length by nearly 15 minutes. As funny as it sounds, such amount of extra minutes on a Nikkatsu feature is almost always a sign of a director’s ambition on the storytelling front. That is the case here, too. Although the film suffers from some pink diseases, the plot is rather decent and interesting especially in the end. Some dead moments and unengaging scenes have slipped into the first half, though. The pay off however comes in form of an excellent and satisfying finale. The also film surprises with the level of stylized brutality; some scenes are quite bloody even by yakuza film standards.

[HungFist]

Path of the Beast (Shoujo shofu: kemonomichi) (1980)

It’s strange, I’ve been a bit disappointed with many of Kumashiro’s most celebrated classics, but found some real treasures among his less appreciated films. Path of the Beast is one of them. It’s a terrific character drama that uses one of my favourite character close ups; long takes. While the whole film is filled with long takes, there’s at least half dozen instances where Kumashiro allows the camera roll more than four minutes continously. This is of course challenging for the actors, but they succeed rather well. Especially the leading lady, Ayako Yoshimura, is terrific and her acting is good by any standards. The cinematography is amazing and captures loads incredibly beautiful images. The theme muisc leaves no room for complaints. Only a handful of ’not so vital for the story’ sex scenes reveal that this, too, originates from Nikkatsu’s exploitation factory.

[HungFist]

Attacked (Osou!) (1978)

A shy, raped policewoman becomes obsessed with capturing the criminal and starts using herself as a bait in Yasuhare Hasebe’s pink thriller. The idea is somewhat interesting and clearly more ambitious than the cheap rape and sm movies by some other directors. Here the main character is a victim, but willingly exposes herself to further danger. Unfortunately the execution is left a bit halfway, and never comes close to reaching the psychological depth of the greatest Nikkatsu film (such as Tanaka’s Beauty’s Exotic Dance: Torture).

The visual side is okay - with some nice images and framing here and there - but not as violently graphic as you might expect. For some reason Hasebe, who undeniably is a talented filmmaker, has decided to include more sex than the Nikkatsu guidelines require. The soundtrack by Ludwig van Beethoven however is pretty cool, and the ending goes against genre conventions to some extent. A little disappointing but interesting film, one of the better ones of its kind.

[HungFist]

Secret Chronicle: Prostitute Torture Hell (Maruhi: Joro Seme Jigoku) (1973)

There’s no denying Noboru Tanaka was one of the better Japanese directors of the 70’s. From a technical point of view he’d be almost sure to deliver quality film each time. But he also had a tendency for these distant, dialogue loaded dramas that always seem to score with the critics (A Woman Called Abe Sada being another example). Prostitute Torture Hell stars Rie Nakagawa as a prostitute known as ”death bringer” after many of her customers have died mysteriously. Needless to say the business isn’t blooming for her. As usual for Tanaka’s films, the film mixes sexploitation and arthouse, the emphasis being on the latter. There’s a couple of visual standout scenes, but most of the film consists of dialogue.

Prostitute Torture Hell is the middle part in the Secret Chronicle trilogy. The first film, Prostitution Market, directed by Chusei Sone, was a hilarious comedy. Tanaka’s sequel however is a very serious affair with a handful of dark humour. Tanaka also directed the excellent final film, She Beast Market, which was set to modern day and shot in black and white. The (english) title of Prostitute Torture Hell is accurate but misleading; it’s symbolic. There is no torture as Nikkatsu audiences would understand the term. The movie also goes by a commonly used alternate title; Hell Fated Courtesan.

[HungFist]

Eros Schedule Book Concubine Secrets: Tattoo Contest (Irogoyomi ooku hiwa irezumi hyaku-nin kurabe) (1972)

Eros Schedule Book was one of Nikkatsu’s very first Meisaku Roman franchises and ran a total of 9 instalments (from 1971 to 1974). Tattoo Contest, directed by Yukihiko Kondo, was the third film in the series. I haven’t seen any the preceeding or succeeding parts and this movie offers little motivation to do so. It’s a very decent looking period film, but the catch is missing. The film lacks originality and feels breathless (not breastless, the cinematographer obviously has much love for female assets). The only sparks of hope come in form of some tattoo related scenes. Unfortunately the dealing of this subject, too, leaves a lot to be desired. Watch Teruo Ishii’s striking Toei film Inferno of Torture (which also deals with tattoos) for the fourth time instead.

[HungFist]

Showa Woman: Naked Rashomon (Showa onnamichi: Rashomon) (1972)

Despite the title, this Chusei Sone film bears little in common with Kurosawa’s classic Rashomon... not to mention only part of the film is set in the Showa period. The movie begins as a rather dry pink drama about marquis Katsuragawa (Hideaki Ezumi) whose prostitute mistress (Hitomi Kozue) bears him twins. After giving birth she takes the baby girl with her and leaves the boy to Katsuragawa. This is when the movie gets interesting. After 19 years Katsuragawa finally meets his daughter for the first time. Soon after the twins also meet each other by chance - without knowing they that they are actually are related – and fall in love.

Naked Rashomon is not your standard Nikkatsu offering. The surreal scenes and twists make the film more challenging than most genre films. Unlike many other Meisaku Roman productions this one requires some concentration. Taking a quick look at credits explains some of the content and style; Sone started his career as Seijun Suzuki’s assistant director, while screenwriter Atsushi Yamatoya wrote Branded to Kill. There’s also an interesting twist in the cast; Ezumi and Kozue both appear in double roles; they play both the parents and their children.

[HungFist]

Rape! 13th Hour (Reipu 25-ji: Bokan) (1977)

Serial rapist takes a student while being chased by a homosexual gang whose leader had become a victim of his. You don’t see synopsis like that every day. Director Yasuharu Hasebe (who was originally reluctant to follow Nikkatsu to pink cinema, but eventually ended up helming some of the genre’s most notorious achievements) continues to explore his favourite theme; a sudden change (to worse) in a norman person. In Assault! Jack the Ripper a nice guy restaurant worker turned into a mass murderer after being provoked by his girlfriend. Attacked was a story of a shy female cop who became obsessed with capturing the man who raped him and started using her own body as a bait. In Rape! 13th Hour a criminal forces a gas station worker to follow him till he discovers the pleasures of forced entry.

Rape! 13th Hour goes pretty far. Far enough for the studio themself to think they had gone too far. However, I’d imagine the fuss was mostly for the ultra violent last 10 minutes. Which is still not to say the rest of the movie is happy go lucky entertainment. What it is, however, is an extremely slick thriller. Hasebe often accompanies violent images with classical music and here the effect really works, sometimes up to the perfection. The film also moves at fast pace with the secondary main characters not only being a hunter himself but also prey to gang that has swore to capture him. The actual main character (the gas station worker) is partly a bystander, but also has a chance to part in the action whenever he wants to. This gives the movie more depth.

Although it’s not a psychological deep analysis that Hasebe aims at, the film feels more accomplished than the director's previous film, Assault! Jack the Ripper (1976), which had an enormous amout of potential but sacrificed half of it in the pink shrine. 13th Hour aims a little lower, but hits the target accurately and feels more compact. Every sex and rape scene is written into the story and has their effect on the character developement. Hasebe is not afraid to occasionally drift further away from the usual pink ”entertainment”. Acting is good enough and lacks the camp factor for the most part. Yudai Ishiyama is almost horrifyingly believable in the lead role. Genre fans may spot Asami Ogawa, the lead of Hasebe’s later film Attacked (1978), as one of the victims.

Rape! 13th Hour is often mentioned as the most extreme of Nikkatsu’s violent pink films (the critical disapproval actually lead the studio to tone down their violent pink line for a few years, until the genre returned with Koyu Ohara’s Zoom Up: Rape Site in 1979). The wild reputation is a bit exaggerated, though; the violence and rapes are not overly graphic and there’s a tiny bit a dark humour to be found. The storyline and plot twists however are more or less questionable, and what’s worse, thought provoking. Metaphors for the state of the Japanese 1970’s movie industry are also not hard to find, even if the director himself denies them.

[HungFist]

Poster scan for Yukihiro Sawada’s terrific cop film Retreat Through the Wet Wasteland



I’m taking a break. Don’t expect updates anytime soon.

[eddyospina]

Thanks for all the reviews recently, they make for very interesting reading on a genre (Roman Porno) I knew very little about. I don't know whether I'd be tempted to get any of them on DVD but academically it's of great interest to me. Especially since I just finished reading Mark Schilling's book on Nikkatsu Action Cinema which covers the period right up to the start of their Roman Porno era. It also has some really nice glossy pictures of poster art and such.

I'm sure you've noticed already but Toei have annouced their September DVD line up and it seems they'll release 4 of the New Abashiri movies (11-14 of the series) in September. I assume the final 4 (15-18 ) will be coming out in the next few months.

I hope you have the chance to do some more reviews in the not-too-distant future!

Looking forward to the Zubeko and Sukeban Blues films in August!

[HungFist]

Mondo Macabro goes pink; Assault: Jack the Ripper and Watcher in the Attic coming 2008-10-28.


- http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24123
- http://www.avmaniacs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36998
- http://www.kfccinema.com/

Here's what else Mondo Macabro has

• Naked Rashomon (Showa onnamichi: Rashomon, Dir. Chusei Sone, 1973)
• Sins of Sister Lucia (Sudojo Lucia: kegasu, Dir. Koyu Ohara, 1978)
• Female Prisoner: Caged (Joshû orii, Dir. Masaru Konuma, 1983)
• The Marquis De Sade's Prosperities of Love (Akutoku no sakae, Dir. Akio Jissoji, 1988)

- http://www.cultmovieforums.com/forum/sh ... hp?t=14314

As I said in my mini-review, Naked Rashomon is an interesting film that is in a need of subtitles. Sins of Sister Lucia (Sister Lucia's Dishonor) is described in wiki as "pop-art influenced nunsploitation film involving lesbianism and torture in a convent." It's been on my shopping list for a longer time. Ohara is the man who directed Pink Hip Girl, one of my favourite Nikkatsu RP and youth films in general.

Female Prisoner: Caged I'm not very familiar with. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Konuma, leaning towards hate. Most of his films I have found disgusting (Flower and Snake, Woman in the Box, Noble Lady) but some have been impressive (Image of a Bound Girl, Woman in the Box II).

The Marquis De Sade's Prosperities of Love I don't believe is a Nikkatsu roman porno film but something they produced briefly after shutting down the actual RP factory. I haven't seen any films by Akio Jissoji but he's quite popular among cult film fans.

So, Mondo Macabro has done some good looking choises, although I wish they had gone for something that isn't out on R2J already. But I guess they wanted films that have been readily remastered and have enough cult appeal (which rules out some if the greatest RP's like Somai's Love Hotel).

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Here's the current top 5 films Hung wants to see get released on dvd.

1. Pink Hip Girl 2&3 (Momojiri musume) (桃尻娘) (1979-1980)


2. Rape Hunter: Target Woman (Rape Hunter: Nerawareta Onna) (レイプハンター　狙われた女) (1980) and other unreleased films by Yukihiro Sawada


3. Rape And Death Of A Housewife (Hitozuma Shudan Boko Chishi Jiken) (1978) (人妻集団暴行致死事件) (Noboru Tanaka)


4. Red Violation (Akai Boko) (赤い暴行) (1980) (Chusei Sone)


5. Female Ninja Magic: 100 Trampled Flowers (くノ一淫法　百花卍がらみ) (Kunoichi Ninpo: Hyakka Manji-garimi) (1974) (Chusei Sone)

[HungFist]

There hasn’t been many Nikkatsu mini-reviews lately, eh? Well, the reason for that is that I haven’t found much motivation for these film lately. The majority of them is just soft porn and I sick and tired of that. There’s some cinematic treasures hidden in there, but it isn’t easy to find them when the titles give you zero indication and even the highest regarded directors (Tanaka, Kumashiro) are hit and miss.

Master Shinji Somai’s Love Hotel, which I re-watched recently, is one of the best. The love hotel scene at the end of the film is shot with one take. It lasts over 10 minutes. And it’s so natural that I didn’t even notice it was a single take when I first saw it. Respect!

You don’ find film like that often in the genre. But I’ll take a look at some of the more interesting (doesn’t always equal to good) films I’ve seen during the last 5 months. I’ll start with a must see film, and conclude with a dvd worth its price. After that don’t expect anything meisaku roman related until... I don’t know, ever maybe.

[HungFist]

Zoom In: Boko danchi (1980)

Naosuke Kurosawa’s debut features a scrip worth zero, plus your usual load of unnecessary sex scenes. The story is about a masked rapist / serial killer who hunts girls and gets rid of them in vicious ways. But technically this japanese giallo thriller is amazingly well done. The cinematography and framing put almost any big budget thriller into shame, and the jaw dropping audio design is even more impressive. There’s also a decent amount of stylized shock violence, plus surreal imagery, including an ending you’ll never forget. This is a unique film that could only have been made in late 70’s / early 80’s Japan.

[HungFist]

Koibitotachi wa nureta (1973)

Tatsumi Kumashiro has been referred as the most consistently succesful director in the history of japanese cinema, and while his filmography may have something to back this up I certainly wouldn’t go as far to call him one of the greatest. But it’s easy to see why he’s so highly appreciated. His films are based on thick screenplays (as opposed to the usual 4 page Nikkatsu script) and always feature skillful cinematography. The use of music, mostly folk songs - sometimes sang by the characters - is also more or less original. But I can’t help but to feel that most of his early 70’s films are just a little bit dry. If fact a lot of the time I feel he could have worked for a mainsteam studio without major compromises (Kumashiro was famous for saying he didn’t care much for human biology, he worked with Nikkatsu because of the artistic freedom they provided).

Koibitotachi wa nureta is a typical example of an early 70’s Kumashiro film. Technically impressive, heavy on characterization and blessed with a title that has little to do with the content (that was the price Kumashiro had to pay for his freedom). It’s interesting and fun to watch but fails to make a lasting impression... except for the critics who hail it as masterwork. The middle part is a bit less good than the rest as that’s where Kumashiro unloads the unnecessary sex scenes that are written in his contract. But as a whole the film features a large number of impressive scenes, such as the ending. The storyline is about a young man who’s on the runs from the yakuza and settles down in a small seaside town. He starts working at a local movie theatre. Nikkatsu fans can spot numerous Meisaku Roman posters on the backgrounds.

[HungFist]

Time Adventure: zeccho 5-byo mae (1986)

A woman gets thrown into distant future (2001) in what is probably the first and last meisaku roman scifi film. The basic plot alone makes Time Adventure more inventive than most of Nikkatsu’s genre films. And that’s not where the good things end; the first encounter with the Blade Runner esque future is full of charmingly confusing moments. There’s even special effects... well, a special effect. Back to the Future is borrowed to some extent, too. Too bad Yojiro Takita’s film falls to all the usual genre traps. It’s a shame as the film really has its moments. Takita later success in the mainstream market, with pics such as When the Last Sword is Drawn and Ashura.

[HungFist]

Sengoku Rock: Female Warriors (Sengoku rokku hayate no onnatachi) (1972)

Female Warriors is one of the films director Yasuharu Hasebe did after his succesful yakuza / action film streak and before earning different kind of name for himself with violent pink films. The director seemed a bit unsure whether he wanted to follow Nikkatsu or do something else. That shows in Female Warriors. As the original title (Sengoku rokku) suggests, it’s a sort of semi sequel to the Stray Cat Rock films, with the main difference being that this is a period film, a meisaku roman flick and, well, pretty much everything. Even more vague is the connection to Seven Samurai, although it was big in the film’s US marketing campaign, apparently. The films sound better on paper than it truly is. It follows 7 female warriors that fight and love. The girls look pretty good with their clothes on but that’s about as far as quality goes. The film feels cheap, despite obviously being a larger scale production than many other Nikkatsu films of the time. Sountrack has its minor moments, but borrowals from Stray Cat Rock feel completely out of place. More mainstream oriented studios like Toho and Toei did similar films with less sex, more action, and far more success.

[HungFist]

Wife to Be Sacrificed (1974)

Naomi Tani in her usual housewife to be tortured role in Masaru Konuma’s most critically appraised film. It’s yet another appalling sm fest with over-rated cinematography and a touch of artism. A couple of good moments and effective ending have found their way into the film. Of course it was Nikkatsu’s biggest hit of the year and now a celebrated piece of Japanese film history.







While the movie is garbage, the new R1 dvd by KimStim is a must buy as features Sadistic and Masochistic as an extra.

Sadistic & Masochistic (2001)

Ringu man Hideo Nakata’s terrific documentary film on director Masaru Konuma. A former assistant director of Konuma’s, Nakata examines his mentor’s career from the beginning, discusses the films and the industry with the man himself, and interviews directors, cinematographers and actors from Koyu Ohara to Naosuke Kurosawa and Yuko Katagiri. One of the highlights comes when Nakata arranges a meeting for Konuma and his trusted lady Naomi Tani –retired from movie industry since the end of 1970’s. Add insightful behind the scenes stories by assistant directors who wanted to kill Konuma and rare stills of the Nikkatsu kings together in a meeting and you have pretty much the best documentary imaginable about the subject.

Nakata shows where the opening of Woman in the Box was shot. You can see Shinjuku Station East Exit on the background.


Konuma denies guilt


Koyu Ohata, Noboru Tanaka, Masaru Konuma and Yoshihiro Yuki


Naosuke Kurosawa has a few words to say about his former boss


Naomi Tani always got along with the dictator


Konuma directing Madoka Matsuda: Nagisa (2000)


Even pink directors use subway. Ohara and Konuma on their way home after a hard day.

[diceman]

I just cancelled my "Wife to be sacrificed"-DVD since it hasn't been shipped yet, and ordered the remastered version instead, the one with the documentary. I'm still holding up some vague hope that I'm gonna like it.

[HungFist]

Just like me some 12 months ago. Fiercly believing Flower and Snake would turn out a good film. How wrong was I... But seriously, you did the right thing ordering the new disc as Sadistic and Maochistic is more than worth the price. Never buy an old (non-remastered) KimStim releases. I hear most (all?) of those had stretched image. It was neither non-anamorphic nor anamorphic but something in between... Good God.

I was re-watching scenes from Kumashiro’s hyper-active Painful Bliss! Final Twist and noticed that the soundtrack plays the theme from Takakura’s Brutal Tales of Chivalry series in the yakuza boss scene... ”The Chinese Lion with Peonies roars on my back...”. And there’s a poster hanging on a wall. At the end of the film we hear the theme from Worthless to Confess. And somewhere in between funeral and wedding marches. Brilliant soundtrack brilliantly used. Oh, and if you've read my reviews or watched some of Kumashiro's better known films you know there's a Red Peony Gambler performance in Ichijo Sayuri. And no, the French dvds are still not out...

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In the news, Mondo Macabro’s Sins Of Sister Lucia is coming February 24, 2009. I only now realized it’s Shudojo Lucia: Kegasu (修道女ルシア　辱＜けが＞す) aka Sister Lucia's Dishonor. The R2J was on my shopping list with a quote ”stylish pop art nunsploitation” but I haven’t been looking at the pink section for a while now. There’s only a couple of R2J titles left that I might have motivation to risk & buy, mainly Kumashiro’s Woman with Red Hair (”Wong Kar Wai of pink eiga” – imdb) and Sex Hunter Nureta Hyoteki (remake of Stray Cat Rock 3) by Yukihiro Sawada, the director of the groundbreaking cop thriller Retreat Through the Wet Wasteland.

But maybe I’ll give Lucia a try if the price isnt too high. Ohara has directed one of my favourite meisaku roman and youth films in general: Momojiri musume: Pink Hip Girl. But he’s also capable for really poor films, so...

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I've done something I usually don’t do; post brief video clips from three films for your viewing pleasure. Previously posted is the beautiful but extremely spoiler heavy trailer for Woman of the Afternoon: Incite

1. Love Hotel
This is a magnificent scene between Minori Terada and Noriko Hayami. If you’re going to buy the film, don’t watch. If you’re not planning on buying it, then watch, and then think again. As usual for Somai, the scene is shot with one take.

2. Momojiri musume: Pink Hip Girl
The hitchhiking scene. Should give you some idea of the film’s upbeat style

3. Zoom in: Boko danchi
Turn the volume up, as audio is important in this scene. Slight spoiler perhaps, but it’s not a story film in the first place.